You are my home
by TrafalgarLucy
Summary: AU: The strawhats failed to save Robin and had to return to Water 7 without her. Nami doesn't want to spent the night with the rest of her crew and goes for a walk... Paulie/Nami


**Note:** AU!Setting. Luffy and his crew failed to save Robin and returned to Water 7 without her.

* * *

They couldn't save her. They promised to and yet they failed miserably. How could they loose her? How could they let that happen? None of them knew an answer to that, but sure enough all of them blamed themselves for their failure.

Nami was the one suffering the most. She had been so close to her. All those times they went shopping together, all those nights they stood up late to tell each other stories of their past — all gone. They were nothing but distant memories now…

On the night they returned to Water 7, the navigator couldn't get any sleep. Hell, she even refused to stay with the others and went outside for a walk instead. Of course it just had to start raining, but she couldn't care less about that. So what if she got a little wet? So what if she caught a little cold? It didn't matter to her. Nothing matter to her at the moment.

"Oi, you're going to catch a cold."

At the sound of a familiar male voice coming from behind, the redhead turned around. _Why did I have to run into someone?_ she thought as she gave her best fake smile to the shipwright in front of her. However, she didn't really feel like talking to anyone, so she had to make up something that would cause him to leave her alone. "I'll be fine. It's just a little water after all." It's wasn't exactly a lie, but not exactly the truth either.

"Like hell I'm gonna believe that," he said while walking closer to her. After all, he really couldn't just let her walk around like that, right? Especially not after what had happened. "Paulie look, you really don't have to—" Nami was cut off by a blue object being thrown at her. Was that…? She looked up at him with a questioning look in her eyes. "I'm not going to be responsible if you get sick. Put it on." He looked away, blushing slightly even though it was barely visible in the dark.

Nami looked down at the blue fabric she was holding and hesitantly put it on. It was a few numbers to big for her, but she didn't really care. The important thing was that it was comfortable and… **warm**.

It even smelled like him. And his cigars. But somehow that didn't bother her. It was actually a rather calming smell that slightly reminded her of Belle'mere; of **home**.

"Come on, we're both going to catch a cold if we stay here," he interrupted her thoughts with his words before hesitantly putting an arm around her shoulder. Nami didn't need to look up at him to know how red his face was by now. She secretly appreciated his gesture and decided to go along with him.

The walk was silent and both of them were pretty much keeping their gaze fixated on the ground. They were surrounded by an awkward silence one could basically notice by just looked at them. The only thing that broke the silence was the rain pouring down on them like a gentle waterfall, causing both of them to be soaked when they finally arrived at Paulie's flat.

Nami didn't really know why he had insisted on taking her to his place, but since she didn't feel like being with the others at the moment, that decision was totally okay with her. The only problem was— her clothes were wet and she didn't have anything with her she could change into. Of course that meant she had to wear some of Paulie's clothes. The thought alone made her blush slightly.

"If you uhm… want to take a shower… uh… it's right over there…" he stuttered, not making eye contact with her while pointing at the bathroom door. "I'll erm… bring you some clothes and a uh… a towel…" His face was practically glowing as he excused himself to get the mentioned objects for the red-haired girl sitting on his couch.

Taking that shower was relaxing, even somewhat calming to her body. The cold of the rain had lead her to shiver earlier and the hot water pouring down on her now warmed her up again. It just felt so great. At least physically. While her body started to relax her mind was screaming. She was alone right now so there was nobody to distract her from the pain she still felt in her heart — the pain of loosing Robin. It was constantly present in her head and it just didn't want to leave her alone. Nami felt terrible and guilty to the point where she had a hard time fighting back her tears. But she eventually succeeded and got out of the shower.

When she came back into Paulie's living room, he was sitting on the couch and apparently had changed his clothes. She smiled slightly as his face turned red again when she saw her wearing his clothes; they were a little large for her, making her look extra cute. "I-I see you're done…" The navigator simply nodded and sat down next to him, keeping her gaze fixated on her knees. Even though she had company now, her mind still didn't want to shut up.

Minutes passed and nothing happened. Once again, there was an awkward silence between those two that was only broken by the slightly annoying ticking of the clock hanging in Paulie's kitchen nearby.

The silence. It killed her. It gave her way too much time to think, and thinking was something she really didn't want to do right now. Not if it made her feel worse and worse with every second that passed. Not if it made her feel like crying. Not if… not if it reminded her of her own failure causing all of them to loose someone close to them.

"Hey… are you okay?" The seriousness in his voice confused her, so she looked up. She couldn't understand why he had asked her this question all of a sudden. He didn't have any reason to—

Nami's hand slowly wandered up to her cheeks and she blinked once she touched it. Wet. Her cheeks were wet._Why…? _Without even noticing it, Nami had started to cry. _How could I not notice—?_ She wasn't able to finish that thought; Paulie suddenly pulling her into a hug was so unexpected, her brain stopped working for a moment.

"It's not your fault…" his voice was nothing but a soft and calming whisper, and yet it had so much effect on the navigator. Within seconds she noosed her arms around his and buried her face in his shirt. She cried and sobbed her heart out while he just held her tightly in his arms, stroking her back. From time to time he would tell her that everything would be all right again and that she shouldn't blame herself for what had happened to her friend. Nami was loosing it and Paulie was there to catch and comfort her during her breakdown.

They stayed like that for almost an hour and by the time Paulie carefully pulled away a little to look at his guest's face, Nami was already asleep. He smiled down at her and pressed a gentle kiss onto her forehead before carrying her into his bed and staying on the couch himself.


End file.
